Happy Birthday CL! 2NE1’s leader is celebrating her birthday the true K-pop way today, by releasing a highly anticipated comeback album, Crush. There’s never been a better reason to join the 2NE1 party.
2NE1 (say it like ‘to anyone’) are CL (leader, lead rapper) Park Bom (main vocal) Dara (vocal) and Minzy (vocal, maknae).
Their sound hits a harder punch than many girl groups with distinctively R&B/reggae-inspired beats, sultry vocals and whole lot of sass. Song titles like I Am The Best and I Don’t Care scream with attitude; this is the gang of girls at school who turned up their shirt collars at school rules, smoked behind the bike sheds and took no crap from anybody. Awesome.
2NE1 first appeared in 2009, teaming up with YG labelmates Big Bang to promote LG Electronics and hit number 1 with their joint digital single Lollipop. After that the girls’ official debut single Fire launched them into the K-pop charts. They’ve released two mini albums and one studio album To Anyone, gaining more Blackjacks with each release, including American rapper will.i.am who collaborated them on his 2013 single Gettin’ Dumb.
Working with international artists shouldn’t faze any of the ladies, however, as they are all bilingual. CL spent some childhood years travelling in Japan and France, Park Bom studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Dara lived in the Philippines as a kid and can speak fluent Tagalog, and Minzy is currently studying Chinese and Japanese.
Besides touring in Asia, the girls played two dates in America in 2012, and came to London last November for KBEE 2013, a Korean expo held to introduce Korean culture to Europe. Their new tour All or Nothing kicks off this March with shows in Korea, Japan, Malaysia and China. Though there’s no European dates slated yet, with ladies this sassy and multilingual, surely it’s only a matter of time.
Catch them:
All or Nothing world tour – English info is available on their official Facebook page.
Recommended MVs:
I Am The Best – Machine guns and PVC trousers they were definitely poured into. Oh My God!
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I Love You – No soppy love song here, just awesome beats paired with OTT bling (check out the nails)
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Missing You – Their last digital single had a slower pace but no less sass
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Don’t Cry – Lead vocal Park Bom’s solo single MV features actor Kim Young Kwang as a lover who kicked the bucket. Too bad.
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Don’t Stop The Music Fiore CF – because this foursome are way more likely to hop on a bike than a bus
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